Los Angeles FC edge out Seattle Sounders as Denis Bouanga's goal sets up Western Conference final against Houston Dynamo, who scraped past Sporting Kansas City earlier in evening

Denis Bouanga scored and goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau made seven saves as Los Angeles FC defeated Seattle Sounders 1-0 on Sunday night in the Western Conference semifinals.

Third-seeded LAFC will now play host to Houston Dynamo in Saturday's conference final after the No 4 seeds claimed a 1-0 win of their own against Sporting Kansas City earlier in the evening.

In the later tie, the Sounders had their league-record 19-game home unbeaten streak dating back to 2014 snapped (17-0-2) when LAFC scored the only goal of the game on the counter attack in the 30th minute.

From just shy of midfield, Timothy Tillman sent a pass ahead for Cristian Olivera, who stepped over the ball and let it go for Bouanga, who was alone on the left wing. 

Bouanga drove nearly to the top corner of the six-yard box before blasting a shot over Seattle goalie Stefan Frei's left shoulder and into the net. It was his fourth goal of the postseason.

Crepeau made two sterling saves in the opening five minutes to keep the game scoreless.

He made a diving stop at the left post on a 20-yard shot by Josh Atencio in the third minute. A minute later, Seattle's Jordan Morris got a step on defender Giorgio Chiellini and dribbled into the penalty area. Crepeau charged off his line and slid toward Morris, with the former trying to chip the ball over the goalie from about 15 yards out. He reached his left hand up and swatted away the shot.

The goalkeeper also tipped shots from just outside the penalty area from Alex Roldan and Joao Paulo over the crossbar in the 80th and 81st minutes, respectively.

Crepeau then made a pair of saves in second-half stoppage time, tipping an Albert Rusnak shot over the crossbar and diving to stop a header from Jackson Ragen at the left post.

Rusnak put a 15-yard shot into the net in the 88th minute, but it came just after teammate Raul Ruidiaz was called for a hand ball.

Over in Houston, defender Franco Escobar used an assist from Héctor Herrera to send a header into the top left corner of the net in the 39th minute as the Dynamo took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Escobar notched his fourth career postseason goal and his first in his first season with Houston. He spent last season with LAFC and scored three goals for Atlanta United in the 2018-19 playoffs.

Goalkeeper Steve Clark finished with three saves to earn his first shutout this postseason after collecting 12 clean sheets during the regular season. He has four career postseason shutouts - two with the Portland Timbers in 2021 and one with the Columbus Crew in 2015.